We love helping our shoppers at Cattleman’s choose items to go with their meats, fish, and main course purchases.
From vegetables and starches to side garnishments and sauces, these are the other things on your dinner plate meant to “go with” your main dish, such as a steak or a fillet of fish. In the professional chef’s world, these plated accompaniments are called “sets.”
What’s a set you ask?
When putting an idea for a dish together, the chef also decides what vegetable, starch, sauce, or garnishment pairs best with the main attraction. Actually, a lot of thought goes into it.
The cooks on the “line” learn these sets so that, while they’re cooking the pork chops, for instance, they also keep in mind all the other parts that need to be prepared simultaneously. All of this ensures that when the final “plate up” happens, everything goes smoothly.
These are examples of “sets”.
- ATLANTIC SALMON FILLET – crab and spring onion croquette, roasted corn puree, asparagus, shaved fennel, capers, and petite herbs.
- GRILLED DOUBLE RIB PORK CHOP – sweet potato cake, braised kale, saffron pear compote, pickled cabbage with cider jus.
I almost hate to say this (because I know chefs, when it’s busy, don’t like to do it), but I’ll say it anyway. In some restaurants—quite often those with a good kitchen staff and those that cater to a “foodie” crowd—if you like a certain main course dish but are not crazy about its “set,” you can ask your server if you can have that main protein with a different set.
It’s not too common, but it’s not unheard of either. Let’s say you fall in love with a “Grilled, Double Rib Pork Chop” on the menu, but it comes with sides and other items you don’t like at all.
The pork chop in this example comes with a Gorgonzola Cream Sauce, Balsamic Glazed Brussels Sprouts, and Fried Plantain. You could just suck it up, order it to enjoy the pork chop, and push everything else off to the side.
Truthfully, I’d encourage you to actually try the set that the chef intended—you might be surprised.
But, if you happen to see another dish on the menu with a set you think you’d enjoy more with your pork—maybe a Roasted Chicken dish with Sage Bread Stuffing, Butter Whipped Potatoes, and Country Gravy—you can always consider asking.
May I have the Pork Chop with the Roasted Chicken set?
Almost no one ever asks this question to a server, so they may be surprised by two things:
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No one has ever asked me this.
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How do you even know what a set is? (And THEY might not even know.)
My guess is that 90% of servers’ responses will be, “I’m not sure, let me check.” (You can quote me on this.) Then, 75% of the eventual replies—once they check with the kitchen and wonder who the person at table 23 is—will be: yes. You get the Grilled Pork Chop you wanted and enjoy everything else on the plate as well.
There are a couple of disclaimers I’m obliged to share with you, however.
First, chefs are generally very proud of their menus. Having said that, the best of them also understand that they’re in the people business. As such, they sincerely want you to be happy with both your food and your experience.
Second, some sets are integral to the main protein itself and can’t be subtracted or changed. For example, if the pork chop is stuffed or a salmon fillet is potato- or mushroom-crusted, these are done in advance and can’t be changed.
Also, don’t expect that they’d allow you to disassemble parts of numerous sets to “build” your own dish. Lastly, menu prices are built not only on the featured entrée but also on the entirety of everything else on the plate. As a result, it’s entirely possible there could be an upcharge for changing a set—even if they allow it.
It’s understandable. You certainly can’t expect a restaurant to swap out a steak garnishment of sautéed mushrooms and an onion ring for grilled asparagus spears and jumbo lump crab meat topped with Hollandaise sauce (an “Oscar” set).
Being a savvy diner also means being polite, considerate, and reasonable. A busy Saturday night is probably not the best time to show off your newly discovered menu set prowess. It is, however, an occasional last-resort option when no combinations on the menu truly appeal to you.
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you’d like to ask to modify a set? Let us know—we’d love to hear from you.
